UASEDS Chapter Update 01/29/2012

January 29, 2012

Since the last update, UASEDS participated in several different events and activities. In October, about 14 students from UASEDS attended SpaceVision 2011 in Boulder, CO. We all enjoyed the conference and are looking forward to next year in Buffalo, NY. Our Arizona Space Grant ASCEND! team launched a balloon payload in November and are currently working on a new design for this next semester.

More recently, we have been working on a few improvements to our 18″ Dobsonian telescope. Once complete, several more members will be trained in using the telescope for outreach events. Our annual spring break trip is also in the planning stages. We expect to visit several different space sites throughout California. We have also been working on recruiting new members by attended club fairs when possible.

3 comments

Most folks under estimate the difficulty of space colonization. The South Pole base is a very expensive undertaking and folks there are not allowed to go outside in winter. If they were cut off from outside supply, they would all die in a few years. Mars and the moons of Jupiter are much tougher. Any place with a hard vacuum like the moon is even worse.
It may be impossible to make a self sustaining space colony.

Not that anyone really cares, but… people at the South Pole base are allowed (and indeed it’s even necessary) to go outside year round. Also, it would take far less than “a few years” for them to die if they were cut off from outside supply. They spend all summer ferrying in AN8 fuel to make it through 8 months of isolation with some to spare. The South Pole Station might be an interesting analogue to space colonization, but it’s not a colony, it’s a base. It’s not designed to be self-sufficient.